Quick Sock & Teaching Update

Hi, Knitters,

I want to quickly let you know about a few teaching and book signing events I have coming very soon. Next week, Feb. 28-March 3, 2016, I am off to film a brand new Craftsy class! This class has been a long time coming and I am super excited to get back to Craftsy again. 

March 1, 2016 ~ Fancy Tiger Crafts 

I'll be heading over to Fancy Tiger Crafts in Denver, Colorado, at 7pm! They are hosting me for a book signing and hangout (thank you!). I can't wait to see this shop as I've heard such great things about it for years. I hope to see you there!

Click here for more Fancy Tiger Crafts information!

March 18-20, 2016 ~ A Good Yarn 

I am so excited to be teaching all weekend at A Good Yarn in Sarasota, Florida! I am debuting a new sock class called, How I Make My Socks, which should be super fun. I am also teaching my Shawl Shapes workshop, a full day of the Build a Toy Workshop, and one of my all-time favorites, the Sock Bunny workshop. It looks to be a fun weekend ahead. 

I have also heard this shop is super fantastic so I can't wait to check it out and visit with all of the wonderful Florida knitters. And how perfect that I get to go to Florida in March when it will still be cold here in Madison. What a treat. I hope to see you in class! 

Click here for all of the A Good Yarn workshop details!

Photo of the shop is from the Fibre Space website.

May 19-21, 2016 ~ Fibre Space

Registration has opened for my weekend of five workshops at one of my favorite shops in the country, Fibre Space. I am so excited to be teaching for the third time at this beautiful Alexandria, Virginia location. Thank you, Danielle, for inviting me back! I hope to see you there.

Click here for more information about the workshops at Fibre Space!

Here are the classes with links:

• 5/19: Build a Toy Workshop
• 5/20: Exploring Shawl Shapes Workshop
• 5/20: Top-Down Seamless Dolls Workshop
• 5/21: Designing Your Own Fair Isle Mitts Workshop
• 5/21: Egg to Owl Workshop

Now for the sock update. I finished the first sock in the Wool Barn Soft Pink Tweed Sock yarn. It is so beautiful. I combined my How I Make My Socks pattern along with the Eyelet Mock Cable Rib stitch pattern used in Paula Emons-Fuessle's Ellison Bay Shawl. 

I have a good start on the second sock. There really is something sweet and wonderful about the combination of the stitch pattern, the yarn and the Golden Oak wooden needles I am using. Even the linked hearts stitch marker from Little Skein adds to the beauty. I think I will bring this with me on the plane for my trip to Denver next week. 

Yarn: Wool Barn Tweed Sock in the Soft Pink colorway

Needles: Dyakcraft double-pointed needles, US size 1/2.25mm in Golden Oak, 6-inch length

Wood Sock Blocker from theloopyewe.com 

Lastly, if you think this sock looks wider and longer than my usual socks you are correct. I am knitting a new pair for my baker son. His foot measures 11-inches in length, US men's shoe size 11, and I cast on 72 stitches instead of my usual 64 stitches for me.

I am combining two self-striping sock yarn balls from Lollipop Yarn. I am working the cuff, heel and toes in an Opal dark heather gray colorway. To work the sock striping yarn I am knitting through one full striping repeat in one yarn, cutting the yarn and then working the striping sequence from the second yarn. One of the colorways has 3 stripes and the other has four stripes, each stripe is about 6 rounds.

There were some ends to weave in but it took less than 15 minutes to get the job done. That's not too bad at all and it is totally worth it. I love the look of the finished sock and by combining two self-striping colorways of sock yarn you get a completely different striping pattern with more colors which is really fun. 

Yarn: Lollipop Yarn ~ combining two skeins

Sock blocker from theloopyewe.com

Pattern: How I make My Socks for Men

And I am very proud of that placemat in the photo above. I make a lot of quilted placemats for my family and for gifts. This one is different though because I used an idea from a new book called, Quilt as You Go Made Modern. This technique has you sew down strips of fabric directly to the batting and then you add the backing, quilt those together and then you add the binding. It was so much fun to make the off-kilter log cabin pattern. Free form quilting is so much more fun for me than super-precise quilting. I love this book! 

Click here for the Quilt as You Go Made Modern book!

Wish me luck with my Craftsy filming next week. I have been working so hard to get ready for the new class. I can't say what the topic is yet but the new class will be released I think by the end of March so it will be soon enough. I think you will like it.

I'll be back soon with more. Have a great weekend.

xo ~ susan